6th Flèche Wallonne - CDM/67th Flèche Wallonne - 1.HC

Belgium, April 23, 2003

Preview

By Jeff Jones

Serving as a World Cup race for women and an Hors Categorie race for men,
La Flèche Wallonne is the only Ardennes 'double header'. As its name indicates,
the race is run in Wallonia, the French speaking part of Belgium, and is organised
by the Amaury Sport Organisation, which is responsible for the Tour de France,
Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and several other big races.

Both men's and women's races finish atop the Mur de Huy, a tough 1.4 kilometre
climb averaging around 10%, with the steepest part at 20%. It's often the decisive
point of the race, the men having to tackle it three times in the last 63 km,
while the women do it just once at the finish. Prior to this there are a number
of relatively short but steep climbs, and these usually serve to soften up the
peloton before the final rush to Huy

The men's race is 199.5 km, starting in Charleroi and heading straight to
Huy, where they do two different circuits before the finish. The women's race
starts and finishes in Huy and is only 97.5 km, making it one of the shortest
World Cup races. The fact that the women's peloton is larger and stronger than
ever points towards a lengthening of the World Cup races in order to make them
more selective. 141 riders from 163 starters finished the women's Amstel Gold
on Sunday - a far greater proportion of finishers than in the men's race - and
that should send a message to the UCI and race organisers in future.

There has been some rearranging of the calendar in April, with the Amstel Gold
Race taking place before La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, instead
of a week after L-B-L as is usually the case. In some ways this makes a little
more sense, as Amstel is a more suitable segue into the Ardennes week than Paris-Roubaix.

The Favourites

Men

The defending champion in this year's race is Belgian Mario Aerts (then with
Lotto, now with Telekom), who dropped his breakaway companions on the Mur last
year to take the biggest win of his career. This year, Aerts has struggled with
sickness and injury in the early part of the season, and may find it hard going
in this race. Telekom also has Alexandre Vinokourov, who won the Amstel and
wants to win Liege-Bastogne-Liege next Sunday. If Vino has recovered and is
motivated for this race, then he is a definite threat. Unfortunately, Telekom
will be without Cadel Evans, who broke
his collarbone in a crash in Amstel and will miss the next few weeks of
competition.

Lotto-Domo will be present with 2001 winner Rik Verbrugghe, who is also coming
into form after a shaky start to the season. The silver-haired resident of Chaudfontaine
knows these roads well, and will have the company of Axel Merckx as a co-team
leader for this race.

The Quick.Step-Davitamon squad is looking for another big win after several
near misses in the recent classics, and who better to do it than Frank Vandenbroucke,
who is well suited to this race and just needs things to go his way a little,
as they haven't done in the last two World Cups. VDB is targeting L-B-L as well,
and this race will be an important gauge for Sunday.

Rabobank, smarting from its loss on Sunday in Amstel, will be relying on Michael
Boogerd again to try and do what he couldn't on Sunday. The finish up the Mur
de Huy is tailor made for Boogerd, but he'll have to ensure he gets to the hill
in a position to win.

Saeco is due for a win in a classic soon, having placed on the podium in three
of the four World Cups so far. La Flèche Wallonne is a race suited to its power
climbing specialists Danilo Di Luca, Igor Astarloa and Mirko Celestino, who
are also targeting L-B-L.

CSC features Tyler Hamilton, who was a protagonist in last year's race, and
has the ability to do well on this type of terrain.

Cofidis has climbing specialist David Moncoutie in its ranks, and his victories
in the Mont Faron stage of the Tour of Med and the GP Lugano show that he has
some form this year. If he is in the front group at the foot of the climb, he
will be tough to beat.

1999 winner Michele Bartoli (Fassa Bortolo) just missed the break on Sunday
in Amstel, but his form is gradually improving. He's certainly not at his 1999
level, but is a rider who you can never underestimate in a race like this.

Another past winner who is in form is Francesco Casagrande (2000 winner). The
Lampre rider was a dangerous man in the break on Sunday, riding solo for a few
kilometres in the finale. He's a good climber and relishes this type of finish.

In the Italian theme there is also Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), who tends
to do well on uphill finishes although he prefers it to be a little flatter
to put his sprint to good use. Rebellin showed good form on Sunday to finish
4th and should be a protagonist in this race as well as Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Finally, and by no means least, there is Jan Ullrich (Team Coast), who put
in an impressive display of power on Monday to win the Rund um Köln with a 50
km solo breakaway. It wasn't an easy parcours either, containing more than 10
climbs of between 500m and 2 km, and Jan was simply too strong for the others.
He is looking more at Liege, but if the opportunity arises in this race, he
is certain to take it.

Women

The women's race will be no less competitive this year, with a large field
stacked with top class riders. Three time winner and defending champion Fabiana
Luperini (Team 2002 Aurora RSM) will be a definite favourite, although she has
yet to really show herself this year.

Amstel Gold Race winner Nicole Cooke (Ausra Gruodis-Safi) is clearly in good
shape, and will rely on her aggressive racing style and excellent sense of timing
to try and add this race to her palmares. Ausra Gruodis also features sprinter
Rochelle Gilmore, who often surprises in hilly races.

World Cup leader Sara Carrigan (Powerplate-Bik) will be looking to add some
more points to her lead in Huy, with the competition for the jersey still very
close. Carrigan is a strong rider, and has shown it in each of the rounds so
far, and shouldn't have too many problems with the Mur.

World Champ Susanne Ljungskog (Catalunya-Aliverti-Kookai) has been close to
winning a World Cup all season, but has yet to do so. Perhaps the Mur de Huy
will smile on her this time.

Team Nürnberger features 1999 winner Hanka Kupfernagel, as well as Judith Arndt
and Margaret Hemsley, all good climbers with a chance on the Mur.